his The Mission of the Comforter, 1846 (3d ed. 1876), and afterwards as a separate book shortly
before his death, 2d ed. 1855.
Luther has been assailed by English writers on literary, theological, and moral grounds: 1,
for violence and coarseness in polemics (by Henry Hallam, the historian); 2, for unsoundness in
the doctrine of justification, and disregard of church authority (by the Oxford Tractarians and
Anglo-Catholics); 3, for lax views on monogamy in conniving at the bigamy of Philip of Hesse
(by the same, and by Sir William Hamilton).
These charges are discussed, refuted, or reduced to a minimum, by Hare (who had the largest
Luther library and the fullest Luther knowledge in England), with ample learning, marked ability,
and in the best Christian spirit. He concludes his vindication with these words: —
"To some readers it may seem that I have spoken with exaggerated admiration of
Luther. No man ever lived whose whole heart and soul and life have been laid bare as his
have been to the eyes of mankind. Open as the sky, bold and fearless as the storm, he gave
utterance to all his feelings, all his thoughts. He knew nothing of reserve; and the impression
he produced on his hearers and friends was such, that they were anxious to treasure up
every word that dropped from his pen or from his lips. No man, therefore, has ever been
exposed to so severe a trial; perhaps no man was ever placed in such difficult circumstances,
or assailed by such manifold temptations. And how has he come out of the trial? Through
the power of faith, under the guardian care of his Heavenly Master, he was enabled to
stand through life; and still he stands, and will continue to stand, firmly rooted in the love
of all who really know him."
II. Goethe, the greatest poet and literary genius of Germany, when he was eighty-two years
of age, March 11, 1832 (a few days before his death), paid this tribute to Luther and the Reformation,
as reported by Eckermann, in the third or supplemental volume of the Conversations of that
extraordinary man: —
"We scarcely know what we owe to Luther, and the Reformation In general. We are
freed from the fetters of spiritual narrow-mindedness; we have, in consequence of our
increasing culture, become capable of turning back to the fountain-head, and of
comprehending Christianity in its purity. We have again the courage to stand with firm
feet upon God’s earth, and to feel ourselves in our divinely endowed human nature. Let
mental culture go on advancing, let the natural sciences go on gaining in depth and breadth,
and the human mind expand as it may, it will never go beyond the elevation and moral
culture of Christianity, as it glistens and shines forth in the Gospels."But the better we Protestants advance in our noble development, so much the more
rapidly will the Catholics follow us. As soon as they feel themselves caught up by the
ever-extending enlightenment of the time, they must go on, do what they will, till at last
the point is reached where all is but one."
III. Heinrich Heine, of Jewish descent, poet, critic, and humorist, the Franco-German
Voltaire, who, like Voltaire, ridiculed with irreverent audacity the most sacred things, and yet,
unlike him, could pass from smiles to tears, and appreciate the grandeur of Moses and the beauty
of the Bible, pays this striking tribute to the Reformer: —